Denial
by Just-Absolutely-Super
Summary: Adrien learns that denial, as Plagg puts it, is NOT just a river in Egypt.


**AN: **If you're thinking to yourself, "Gosh, J-A-Super really is on a fanfiction spree isn't she?" I'm here to tell you…don't get used to it.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own.

* * *

Adrien groaned as he walked into his room and fell face forward onto his bed with a loud _flop_.

"Cheer up, Adrien." Plagg said, immediately making a beeline to the cabinet full of cheese. "So you broke up with Fencer Girl. Big deal. Now you can focus on more important things, like buying me cheese!"

There was a muffled response from Adrien as he kept his head buried in his pillow. When Plagg didn't give a retort, Adrien realized his Kwami wasn't able to understand him, so he lifted his head up and turned onto his back, staring forlornly at the ceiling.

"I just don't understand it! I _like _Kagami. We connect well together. Why can't I just…_like _her like…?"

Like he loves Ladybug.

Ever since Chloe's akumatization into Miracle Queen, Adrien had decided that it was time he try to quit pining after Ladybug and move onto someone else. Someone he knew was actually interested in him and cared about him. That someone was Kagami and initially, he was thrilled with the prospect.

He and Kagami had been on 3 dates. Nothing major, just casual get-togethers as they tried to really get to know each other better. Adrien always enjoyed hanging out with the Japanese girl, but once the dates were over he was left feeling…_empty_.

Okay, empty wasn't quite the right word. Kagami did make him feel warm and accepted…but he never felt that _spark _like he would feel with Ladybug. With Ladybug, he felt adrenaline like he was both falling and flying. She kept him up at night with thoughts of them together. He felt comfortable around her, like he doesn't have worry about presenting himself. He could act however he wanted and she'd accept him wholeheartedly. It was a feeling he knew was love.

No matter how many times he and Kagami hung out he couldn't muster up those same feelings. He tried to be logical about it…whatever relationship they were diving into wasn't going to be an immediate fire burning romance. With time he could grow to love her like he does Ladybug.

But it seemed to be faring into a long work in progress because the feeling he would get in his gut wasn't that of nervous butterflies, but of pure nausea.

Like being with Kagami was so _wrong _his body was actually protesting to it.

And that realization made Adrien feel _awful_! Kagami definitely didn't deserve that!

"On the bright side," came Plagg's voice from the cheese cabinet, "at least she didn't kick your butt. She was totally understanding of the fact you'd rather _not _be in a relationship with her."

Yeah, she was. More understanding than Adrien deserved.

Actually…it was Kagami herself who really ended things between them.

* * *

With his father and Nathalie under the impression that Adrien was just practicing his fencing with Kagami, it left the two teens about an hour of alone time together to really do a proper date. Adrien wasn't too thrilled with lying to his father about what he was doing, but it had to be done. His father still didn't like that Adrien was going to public school, the man might have a coronary if he found out Adrien was interested in _dating_!

Considering their time limit, the two didn't have a lot of options for their outing so they just walked around Paris talking and enjoying each other's company. At one point Kagami reached out and held his hand, causing Adrien to stiffen a bit. He fought the knee-jerk reaction to take his hand away; what kind of person did that to their date?

That thought was another thing that made him internally wince. Despite this being their third date, Adrien was still hesitant to put a label to their relationship. Was he her boyfriend? He didn't really _feel _like a boyfriend. Were there a certain number of times you go out before you called yourself that? He honestly didn't know.

And they hadn't kissed yet either. Kagami certainly _tried _but she only got as far as cheek kisses. Adrien knew she was getting impatient with him—he felt impatient with himself, too—but there was just _something _holding him back from completely diving right into this.

Kagami obviously knew this too because once they made their loop back to the school where their respective drivers would pick them up for the day did she finally confront him.

"Do you not want to date me?" she asked, blunt as ever.

Adrien gaped. He didn't know how to go about this. On one hand, yes he wanted to try and give this relationship a shot. He and Kagami were good for each other…right?

But then there's that other hand. That treacherous other hand that was his never dying feelings of love for a certain spotted heroine.

Adrien wasn't delusional, he _knew _Ladybug wasn't interested in him. She had told him as much and he respected that. But he had also accepted that even though he may never be in a relationship with Ladybug, he couldn't just _stop _loving her. He may always love her. But he couldn't be hung up on her forever. That's why he decided to go for it with Kagami.

Unfortunately, it wasn't working…

"I'm sorry. I… I want to try…" was his feeble response. "It's just… I don't know."

"I think I do." She said, "You love someone else, and it's completely holding you back."

Adrien winced at her observation. He remembered how he alluded to Kagami that he was interested in another girl. It was what brought on their "change targets" conversation. He was trying, he really was, but sadly his metaphorical fencing foil had a homing device and it was dead set on Ladybug.

He grimaced, "I don't want it to. She doesn't love me back…"

Kagami regarded him with a curious expression, "I think she does, though."

Adrien was baffled. He raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. How could she possibly know that? She didn't know he was Chat Noir. She didn't know he was in love with Ladybug. What made her say that?

She doesn't elaborate though. He noticed that she wasn't even looking at him anymore and her eyes had shifted to something behind him. He decided to turn his head to look where she was watching.

Behind them was the park. Across the way he could see 2 familiar faces—Marinette and Alya. They were sitting on a picnic blanket, laughing at something on Alya's phone. The two hadn't noticed Adrien and Kagami were only a few feet away from them.

Adrien distinctly heard squealing and jerked his head to the left. Off to the side was Nadja Chamack's daughter Manon and Alya's twin sisters. They were laughing and playing with each other. Adrien breathed a quiet sigh of relief—at least it wasn't an Akuma.

Manon broke away from the twin girls and rushed to Marinette's side, pulling on her arm and chattering away to her about something Adrien couldn't hear from his position. Marinette giggled and nodded to whatever Manon was saying, allowing the little girl to drag her away from Alya and to where the other little girls were playing at.

Adrien couldn't help but give a soft smile. It had been a while since he'd seen Marinette look so happy and carefree. Lately she wasn't acting like herself and it bothered him a lot. He wanted her to never stop smiling. He wished he could do or say something to make sure that she never felt any worries or burdens, just like how she does for him—

"You should never be with someone who you don't plan on 100% committing to." Kagami's words made him swivel his head back around to her. He felt guilty upon realizing he had forgotten she was there.

"I know…" he softly said. It hit him what was happening right now. This was a breakup. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you."

Kagami gave a small smile, though Adrien still detected sadness in it.

"I know you didn't. It was sweet of you to try and give this a chance, however, I believe it would be better if we remained friends."

Adrien returned her smile. "Thank you Kagami. You really are one of my best friends."

"And you are mine as well, Adrien." With that Kagami grabbed her phone and dialed her car. "I will see you next fencing practice. Our _actual _fencing practice this time."

Adrien chuckled at the small joke, grabbing his own phone to call the Gorilla. "Right. See you, Kagami."

* * *

That was that. Whatever relationship Adrien had with Kagami was now over. He let out another frustrated groan.

"If you ask me," Plagg suddenly appeared in his vision, a wedge of Camembert in his paws, "you've been going about this whole 'move on from Ladybug' thing all wrong!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You pretty much jumped on the first person who showed interest in you. It's not like you actually had feelings for Fencer Girl—you just found a rebound."

Adrien scowled, "Hey, that's not fair! I _did _like Kagami. She's pretty, a nice person, and we get along great. Why _wouldn't _I want to go out with her?"

"Yeah you _liked _her, but not in a romantic way. You and Kagami have a lot in common: you're both sheltered kids with overbearing parents. You're comfortable with her, sure, but you don't really want to do couple things with her. You just wanted to hang out with her. Kid, you just wanted _a friend_—a friend who actually knew where you were coming from and encouraged your need to rebel a little. And I bet one of my wheels of cheese that Kagami didn't really like you that way either, she just latched onto you because she wanted a companion who understood her."

Adrien blinked at him, "That's…actually very insightful of you, Plagg."

"I know, right? I'm awesome like that," Plagg then proceeded to throw his Camambert wedge in the air and engulf it in one bite.

Adrien continued blinking, contemplating Plagg's words. "So if I was just latching onto Kagami because she was the next person available…how do I move on from Ladybug?"

"Simple," Plagg said as he moved back to the cheese cabinet to grab another wedge, "just date someone who you can see yourself kissing."

Adrien went back to scowling, "Plagg, what kind of advice is that? You know the only person I want to kiss is Ladybug, and we've established that she _isn't _interested."

"Well… I can think of someone else you want to kiss." Plagg said in a conspiratorial tone.

Adrien raised an eyebrow, "Really? Who?"

"Marinette."

There was a pregnant pause as Plagg's answer sunk into Adrien. Then his jaw dropped and he let out a cry of shock.

"_Marinette_?! As in _Marinette Dupain-Cheng_?!"

"Do you know any other Marinettes?"

Adrien didn't know how to respond to his Kwami. He was just sitting on his bed, gaping like a fish.

"Are you implying I'm in love with Marinette?"

"Finally he understands!"

Adrien scoffed, "I don't love Marinette! Why would you think that?"

Plagg rolled his eyes. If he had fingers, Adrien would bet he'd be ticking them off right now as he began, "Well for starters, there're the lovesick expressions you always give her—"

"What lovesick expressions?!"

"Then there are those times you're really protective of her."

"She's my _friend_! I'm protective of _all _my friends!"

"Then there's the fact you constantly flirt with her…"

"Okay now you're just making stuff up!"

"Am I?"

Adrien didn't answer. Instead he just glared at the tiny embodiment of destruction, challenging him to explain himself. Plagg gladly took the bait.

"Evillustrator. First time Marinette met Chat Noir. I'm pretty aware of most things that go on while you're in the suit, and don't think I didn't notice you trying to act all cool with her."

"Th-That—That's just… I was trying to make a good impression!"

"By flexing?" If Plagg had eyebrows, he'd be raising one unimpressively.

"I was trying to make her comfortable! She was about to go on a date with a _super villain_! I had to make her feel safe!"

"You called her Princess…"

"ONE TIME! I called her that _one time_! You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope."

Adrien felt like pulling his hair out. After his initial first meeting with Marinette went so horribly wrong (stupid gum!), Adrien wanted to make sure Marinette actually _liked _Chat Noir. After all, if his civilian self made Marinette uncomfortable, then the superhero persona should make her feel at ease, right?

He was NOT flirting with her! It was just playful banter, that's all! Honest!

"Plagg, no! I've told you before: Marinette's just a friend."

"Sure, uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Adrien was aghast, "I don't like that tone."

"I don't like your denial."

"Excuse me? I'm not in _denial_!"

Denial? _Denial_?! The nerve of him! He's _so _cutting back this month on his cheese!

"You know I've been to Egypt right?"

"Uhhh yeah?" Adrien answered, caught off guard by the subject change.

"Good, because I've seen _de Nile _and it's definitely _not_ just a river in Egypt."

Adrien sputtered. Make that _two months _of no cheese!

"This entire conversation is ridiculous! I do _not _love Marinette! She's just a good friend and I care about her wellbeing. That's it!"

Plagg sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine."

"I mean, " Adrien continued as if not hearing his Kwami concede, "I like Marinette as much as the next guy. Who doesn't? She's smart and pretty and talented. I mean, _clearly _I have feelings for her—FRIENDLY feelings, mind you! Feelings don't _have _to mean LOVE!"

Plagg watched his chosen pace around in his room. At this point Adrien was just spouting off useless ramblings. Honestly, Plagg was too old for this crap. He wondered if Tikki had to deal with this stuff from Marinette, and if so who was _worse_?

"Do I have feelings for Marinette?" Adrien continued, pausing in consideration, "…Yeah, they're loving feelings, but that doesn't mean I'm _in love _with her! They're just strong feelings of friendship, though I do love her—"

It was that moment when a realization hit Adrien so hard, he actually felt like keeling over.

The way his stomach always fluttered whenever Marinette smiled at him. How he could never stop grinning in her presence. How incredibly worried he would become whenever he saw her in immediate danger. Almost like it would hurt him physically if anything ever happened to her. How much he loved how incredibly _blue _her eyes were and how he wouldn't mind staring into them all day.

He thought about how kind she was. How she was his everyday Ladybug, never letting anyone down and always willing to help. She was so selfless… How brave she was. Whenever faced with adversary, she'd stand her ground and face off whoever was against her or her loved ones. How creative she was, just taking menial scraps of fabric and creating something so _beautiful_.

She was so awesome. He wasn't worthy of her, but that didn't stop him from wanting to _try_.

Thinking about all of this, it hit Adrien like a ton of bricks that the way he felt about Marinette was similar—if not the _same_—as to how he felt about Ladybug…

"OH MY GOSH!" Adrien suddenly gasped. His green eyes were popped open wide, jaw practically dropped to the ground. Plagg didn't try to hide the smug smirk that befell his face. So his little kitten finally figured it out, huh? Took him long enough.

"OH MY GOSH, PLAGG! IT'S TRUE! I DO! _I LOVE MARINETTE_! AS IN _MORE THAN JUST A FRIEND_!"

"Congratulations, you're officially the last to know."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE ALL OF THIS?!" he demanded. Plagg basically implied that he noticed Adrien's feelings for Marinette from way back before this point. How long was the little cat holding out on him? If he had noticed this _sooner _maybe he'd be in a different place right now instead of his room having a mental crisis.

"In my defense, I _did _drop hints. You were just too hung up on the Bug to figure it out."

"Oh no, oh no, this is _bad_! I can't believe I've been in love with Marinette for…HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN IN LOVE WITH HER, PLAGG?!"

Plagg shrugged, "Give or take a year."

It's not a _total _lie, but Adrien didn't need to know the details…

"_A YEAR_?!" Adrien shouted, "You mean to tell me I've had this crush on Marinette for a _year _and just _now _noticed?!"

"Yeah, amazing how slow your brain cells work, huh?"

Adrien groaned, "Never mind that. I can't believe I've loved her all this time and _never did anything about it_! Instead of switching targets to Kagami, I could have tried pursuing Marinette! Then maybe she wouldn't have fallen for Luka and instead _fallen for me_!"

Oh crap, _Luka_. Adrien forgot about him! He'd seen him and Marinette hanging out after school. It was like the older guitarist was now a permanent part of their little group of friends. That meant he was Marinette's boyfriend, right? He hadn't seen anything official on social media yet, and no one had actually said they were dating, but the evidence points to it so it must be true, right?

"Oh man, Plagg I've totally messed up! Marinette will never go for a stupid homeschooled kid like me! She's so out of my league! And Luka is, like, _perfect_! I can't compete with that! I might as well shave my head and join a monastery!"

"Eh, I wouldn't. Not all it's cracked up to be to be honest."

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"

"Adrien, _relax_." Plagg said in a soothing voice Adrien wasn't used to hearing from the gruff Kwami.

"Relax?! How can I relax, Plagg? Marinette loves Luka!"

"Oh come on, you don't know that. Sure he hangs around her, but it's not like she's going to hop into Snake Boy's arms and elope with him."

"God, _I hope not_!" Adrien fretted. Plagged shushed him.

"_Adrien!" _Plagg zipped in front of Adrien's face and placed his little paws on either side of the boy's cheeks. "_Re-lax!_" He enunciated. The Kwami then started to breathe in deep before breathing out slow, which Adrien knew was Plagg initiating his owner's breathing exercises. Adrien followed suit, breathing in deep for a few seconds before breathing out.

"Better?" Plagg asked. Adrien nodded.

"Better."

"Good, because now you can listen to me." Plagg let go of Adrien's face and crossed his paws. "Do you know for sure Marinette is dating Snake Boy?"

Adrien was going to reply that he _suspected _it but the look on the Kwami's face told Adrien that he didn't want suspicions, but an actual _confirmation_. Adrien shook his head.

"No… I don't think so?"

Plagg nodded. "Okay then. That settles it. Find out if she's interested in anyone, and if she isn't then go for it!"

It seemed so simple. Too simple. Adrien felt anxious at the prospect of finding out who Marinette was romantically attracted to. What if he asked Alya or one of the other girls and they confirmed his fears and Marinette _was _dating Luka? He's not sure how he was going to cope with that reality. The logical thing would probably be to give up—

Adrien shoved that idea away as fast as it came to him. He didn't _want_ to give up on Marinette. It already hurt that he was giving up Ladybug. If he gave up Marinette, he wasn't sure if his heart could take it now that he was no longer in denial and fully aware of how much he loved her.

"Yeah, you're right Plagg! I gotta stop freaking out. I gotta do what I do best, and starting acting!" He felt his confidence returning. He was _Adrien Agreste_—teen heartthrob model and a (secret) suave superhero. He could do this! He would win Marinette's heart or die trying!

…He tried not to think too much about that last part.

"Of course I'm right!" Plagg said as he zipped around Adrien's head before landing on top of his chosen's golden curls, "Now that we've established that, tell me _Cats_-inova, what's the plan to win your _Princess's _heart? Hehehe."

Adrien ignored his teasing, "Well I'll have to find out if she is interested in anyone romantically. Hopefully she really isn't dating Luka, that way I'll have a better chance to woo her. Once I find that out, I'll come up with the best plan to make her _swoon_! She won't be able to keep her _paws _off of me!"

Plagg ignored his kitten snickering at his own pun. He remembered the way Marinette swooned at Adrien whenever the boy just _smiled _at her, "I don't think it'll be that hard…"

"Did you say something?" Adrien asked, blinking in curiosity.

"Ehh, nothing." Plagg said and went back for another helping of Camembert.

The next few days were _definitely _going to be interesting. Adrien wasn't in denial anymore, so the boy could finally let loose his feelings. No more miscommunication (at least none of the superhero kind…). Plagg sniggered at the possibilities. He hoped Tikki was ready for the rollercoaster their new Guardian was about to experience…

His work here was done.

* * *

**AN: **Just some therapy writing while I wait for season 4.

**Some trivia:**

1\. I wrote this kind of differently than I usually do with my fanfics. Usually I create the entire story in my head and then go straight to writing it. Here, I had a lot of scenes and dialogue, but no way to connect them. So I wrote the pieces of dialogue I wanted and then pieced them together as I came up with the narrative. It was kind of a mess tbh but I liked how it turned out.

2\. I like to think Kagami was under the impression the "target" Adrien alluded to in Frozer was Marinette. Not sure if that's canon or a fandom interpretation but either way I'm rolling with it. If you were confused about Kagami's line, "I think she does, though," know that she _was _referring to Marinete. She is under the impression that Marinette and Adrien have a severe case of miscommunication going on (which is true).

3\. Also Kagami is probably OOC here. I don't plan on writing her anymore in the future, so hopefully my first and possibly only attempt is good enough.

4\. The ending was the hardest part for me to write. I rewrote it 3 or 4 times. The original ending was more serious than I would have liked. While I liked the message I was going for, the tone for this fic is supposed to be humorous so the original ending just did not match. After rewriting it I realized that it _still _didn't fit right and cut out some stuff. After mulling it over I still wasn't satisfied and just rewrote the damn thing again. I'm hoping I don't look back on this final draft and realize I hate it too lol

5\. The inspiration for this fanfic stems from a quote from Friends (or rather a conversation from 2 of the characters). Kudos if you got the reference. It isn't the entire quote word-for-word, as I had to change it for the story.

6\. I had to poke fun at the "Princess" nickname. I'm English dub trash but I do enjoy how France and Korea (and maybe some other countries?) had Chat Noir refer to Marinette as a princess. However, as far as I know, it was never brought up again yet the fandom rolled with it. This is just me being funny about it.

7\. I actually don't blame Adrien for his obliviousness about his crush on Marinette (yes, he totally has a crush on her, he just doesn't know it yet…). I was kind of in the same boat as him when it came to the realization I had a crush on one of my friends. I thought what I was feeling was just the intense emotion of wanting to be his close friend. Turns out I was just intensely attracted to him and wanted to kiss him. Who knew?


End file.
